Camp Clothes, Too!

BWOF 7/07, #140

Thank you for all the interest and compliments on Diamonds - it's nice to have a group of you who can help me out and cheer me on when I need it. I have to admit, the pictures made me look more glamorous than I usually am. My children are usually surprised when they see me all dressed up for a photo shoot. They're used to see me in the studio in jeans, a t-shirt and my Chuck Taylor's with the flames!

Here's the question of the day, asked by quite a few people: when/where would you ever wear the Diamonds ensemble? That's a good question. I really don't know. Now, I know what you're thinking, "Why would she make an ensemble she couldn't wear anywhere?!?". Well, you never know when you'll need a fancy gown. The jacket could be worn to anything fancy without the gown. You know, holiday events, fancy dinner parties, really nice dinners out. Furthermore, it was a good learning experience, and the fabric wasn't all that expensive, no silks or anything exotic, except for the fur which can be worn more than the gown anyway.

My daughter is finally old enough to go to camp with the church youth group this year. After looking through her wardrobe and at the camp dress code, it was apparent she did not have enough shorts/trousers that were long enough. After a quick look through the stash and a shopping trip for a few extra pieces of fabric, I got to work. I made two quick elastic waist calf length trousers from fabric from the stash. While these are "functional", they're not a whole lot of "fun".

Enter BWOF 7/07, #140. These are much cuter and a good opportunity to try out a children's pattern from BWOF. My daughter is actually a size 134, which is usually the largest size published. I hope that they publish a small collection starting at size 134 and grading about 4 sizes larger, as the clothes are really cute and current.

BWOF actually includes instructions for the buttonhole elastic in the waistband, which is really nice. I still haven't gone to look for any true buttonhole elastic, so I made do with my version which I showed you a few days ago. This time, it was a lot easier to do since I figured it out already!
I wish I would have thought a little ahead and made the waistband wider so that I could have done the double topstitching on it, too. Oh well, I'll have to pay better attention on the next project! I also only used one button on the waistband instead of two - just to make it easier to button.
As far as sewing the garment, it really was no different than sewing an adult's pair of trousers, just in a smaller size. In fact, it might actually be easier to practice certain techniques, like putting in a fly zipper, on a smaller scale if you haven't tried it yet.

Today, I'm going to finish up another pair of BWOF trousers for her, from 04/07 and I'll show you those tomorrow.

Parting Shot: Raining, again. This means I'll have two really bored and restless children. I think today will be a good day to go to the library.